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Saturday, May 17, 2014

Trying Out the CotLin Yarn From KnitPicks.com

I am in no way a yarn snob. Not yet, at least. I am, however, constantly in search of a yarn that is soft, affordable, agreeable, with a lovely drape, and a yarn that won't fall apart.

Right now I am especially in search of the perfect cotton yarn. The cheap stuff you can buy at the big box stores and craft stores is...meh, okay. It seems to have a problem with colors running and fading FAST. I made a beautiful 4-piece wash cloth set and it was ruined after a few uses. Talk about frustrating.

Unless you buy a cotton yarn online, the only 2 options you have (at least where I live and there's no specialty, local yarn store) is the Sugar 'N Cream or the Wal-Mart version which is Peaches 'N Cream. I'm pretty sure those 2 yarn brands are really the same, just with a different label. If they're not the same, then I think they are at least coming from the exact same factory.

I discovered KnitPicks.com after a friend from church made a baby blanket for my son using one of the yarns from there. I'm not sure which one, to be honest, but I do love it. That blanket, which is by far a very simple design, all in one solid color, has received so many compliments. At the hospital when Jensen was born, the nurses kept remarking on how soft and wonderful it was. And it still is, almost 5 months later.

So KnitPicks.com has 2 cotton yarns I was debating: the Dishie Yarn and the CotLin. The Dishie Yarn is 100% cotton worsted weight in a range of 20 different colors (currently) and comes in a 100g skein of 190 yards. The price is $3.99 per skein. It has received lots of wonderful reviews. At the time that I was ready to order, they were out of stock on all the colors I wanted. So I looked at the CotLin.

The CotLin is 70% Tanguis cotton and 30% linen DK weight yarn in a range of 30 different colors (currently) and comes in a 50g skein of 123 yards. The price is $2.99 per skein. This yarn has also received a ton of rave reviews, and when it came down to it, a few things made me swing towards this yarn: 1.) More colors to choose from and 2.) The description says that the linen adds characteristic flecks, additional absorbency, and less elasticity to the final product. I like the less elasticity part, since washcloths in particular can streeeeetch out.

I got the package in the mail on Wednesday. Look at this cute little card they put in the box! I think I need to take a clue and do something cute like this for orders I ship out.

I ordered 7 colors to start off with. Shipping is very reasonable. I only paid $4.99, or at a $50 order the shipping is free. As much as I would have loved to buy $50 worth of yarn, I would have kicked myself in the tail.

The colors I ordered, from left to right (sort of): Clementine, Cashew, Swan, Canary, Surf, Conch, and Gosling. The colors are vibrant and absolutely beautiful in person! And the yarn is nice and soft with a little bit of a squishiness to it.

Here are some color combinations I am thinking of for 3-piece washcloth sets:

Cashew, Clementine, & Canary

Conch, Swan, & Surf

Swan, Conch, & Gosling

Of course I have enough yarn for several more combinations. At this point I am not sure how much I will get out of each skein, or even how big my final washcloth will be. I will know more in a few days!